Let's face it: we all have a budget. Some budgets may be higher and others less so, but most of us mortals need to keep our spending under control. This especially rings true when it comes to planning a party.
It might feel like having an unlimited budget is the holy grail of guaranteeing a successful bash, but you can have a killer event on a limited budget.
The single most important outcome to throwing a good party is ensuring it is memorable. And you don't need to spend hundreds of thousands to make that happen.
Of course, there is the vital element of cutting back spending on the priciest aspects of event organisation: catering, staff and entertainment. Planning well in advance, and going back to your budget to reassess it each time, searching for financial loopholes and being flexible with potential changes you might need to make, is the cornerstone of successful event planning.
But you should also be taking advantage of technological innovation and harnessing the power of the internet to help ease the burden off of your stressful party planning agenda.
1. Find the best possible venue through Tagvenue.com.
If you're tasked with planning an event, deciding upon the venue and space is a crucial first step. With virtually hundreds of venues in London - some of which don't actively list themselves as being available for hire - you'll likely be quickly overwhelmed and spurred into panic at the thought of choosing the one. The good news is that Tagvenue.com does much of the stressful legwork for you. It's officially the fastest way to browse as many venues as possible, from private bars to engagement party venues, photo shoot locations and more. You can filter your ideal location by the number of attendees, theme and price, literally saving you hours of time.
2. Hire all your event equipment on Rentuu.com.
Rentuu is every event organiser's dream: a super simple, no-frills platform designed with the time conscious consumer in mind. Not only can you hire virtually anything through Rentuu, but the process of doing so is so refreshingly not mired with technical difficulties, you'll probably get addicted to the sheer thought of hiring everything online. Events notoriously require a gazillion different pieces of equipment, much of which it simply makes no sense to purchase. Whether you need to rent a patio heater to keep your guests snuggly, hire a barbecue to cook up a storm or lease music equipment or speakers, Rentuu is your go-to destination. The great thing about Rentuu (besides the super easy platform and courier delivery service) is that virtually all products listed go through vigorous checks, so you're 100% guaranteed to have only the highest quality products.
3. Send personalised invites by text with Hobnob.
OK, so we all love getting old school mail in our post, but chances are much of it can go displaced, and it's hardly eco-friendly to use so much paper. Enter Hobnob, a super nifty app that makes invites via text wildly easy but also not drab. We live in a digital age, so getting invited by text is truly the way forward. Plus, it'll save you loads of cash - while also saving plenty of trees.
4. Stay organised with Trello.
Visualising your plans, ideas and goals for your stellar event is important, and so is keeping track of the endless to-do lists. What if we told you that you can now combine the tasks? Trello is an awesome visual list tool to help you keep on top of your plans - whether it's general life management or specific to event planning overall. A Trello board is, in essence, a page containing lists laid out horizontally on a page, allowing you to keep a birds eye view on the project. Simple, but highly effective.
5. Share the photos from your events super easily on Cluster.
Raise your hand if you're all too familiar with the post-celebration photo sharing chaos? Yep, that's just about everyone. Now, thanks to Cluster, you can share all your memories without the faff. The concept is straightforward but essential: after all, if you don't have photographic evidence of the amazing time you had at the party, did it even happen at all?!
